The Devil’s Paintbrush, by Dolf L. Goldsmith

This revised, expanded and updated second edition of the “best book ever written about machineguns” is once again available.

The Maxim gun was the first true automatic machinegun, developed by Sir Hiram Maxim, an American-born Briton who built his first gun in 1883, when black powder was still king.

The dirty black powder residue made it impracticable to operate weapons automatically, however Maxim was enough of a politician to get the British to adopt his invention firing the British black powder cartridge .577/.450 (45 caliber) and use it in their colonial depredations in Africa.

With the invention of clean burning smokeless powder by the French in the late 1880s, it freed up weapons designers to pursue the automatic principle with gusto.

Maxim adapted his machinegun to smokeless ammunition and it was adopted worldwide, serving in the Russo-Japanese War of 1905 and arming both sides of the battlefield in World War I. It is estimated that 90% of the bullet inflicted casualties of the Great War were caused by the Maxim Gun.

The Maxim Gun is belt fed, water cooled, and is characterized by a water jacket that surrounds the barrel. This water jacket with its attendant condenser and hoses makes the already heavy gun more awkward. The Maxim gun originally had a crew of five, several of which were necessary to haul the large amounts of ammo it consumed. Goldsmith covers the workings of the gun and shows in many fine illustrations exactly how the parts work.

The heart of the gun is the so-called “Maxim Lock,” a complex part that accomplishes the breeching, feeding, and firing of the cartridges. The lock operates on a clever toggle action that works like the human leg with its hip, knee, and ankle joints flexing as necessary to convert the recoil energy of the ammunition to the work necessary to feed, fire, and reload the machinegun.

Dolf Goldsmith’s book covers all this and much, much more. Goldsmith tells us the Maxim was called “the Devil’s Paintbrush” from the imagery of lines of soldiers being cut down like wheat by its devastating fire. The crew served weapon was so useful, it served major armies like the British clear up through the 1960s before being retired. It is still serving in China and the former Iron Curtain countries. Somewhere, even as you read this, I’m sure there is a Maxim Gun being fired in anger…

The hard cover book has 584 pages and 819 illustrations, many of them in color and hard if not impossible to find anywhere else. Contains the original patent drawings and covers all known models of the Maxim, accessories, and parts. There is a troubleshooting guide included also, just in case somebody is so lucky to own a Maxim!

Maxim guns were used by nearly all armies of the world at one time. However, the USA’s native gun designer genius John M. Browning provided most of the machinegun designs to the US Armed Forces and its allies.

The Devil’s Paintbrush would be a great addition to any enthusiast’s firearms library.

Another gun book I highly recommend is The Black Rifle - the story of the Colt M16.

Thanks for stopping by!

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